Dinner and an Understanding
by Serina Powell
Summary: In a moment of weakness, Detective Benson agrees to have a final dinner with Marshall Andy Ekerson, her former lover. When she realizes that wasn’t a good idea, she finds solace in the arms of the man who rights her world.


Summary: In a moment of weakness, Detective Benson agrees to have a final dinner with Marshall Andy Ekerson, her former lover. When she realizes that wasn't a good idea, she finds solace in the arms of the man who makes things right in her world again.

"Would you like to get a drink, Olivia?" he had asked with an unusually quiet voice.

"I don't think so, Andy."

"Why not?" He didn't want to push too hard but he desperately wanted to spend his last few hours with her.

"It's not going to work with us. My life is crazy enough. I need some stability."

Her eyes met his and she hoped he would relent. She began to gather her things as she stood up. She felt stronger standing.

For a moment she did feel stronger. Then she inhaled and the memory of the scent of him filled her brain. She felt herself weaken.

"Olivia, what could it hurt? My plane leaves in 5 hours. Have dinner with me one last time? Please. It's just dinner." Very slowly, he reached out and ran his finger down her arm.

"Just dinner." she repeated, with only a partial smile.

Two hours later

She could feel the possessiveness in his hands, as they danced. Now she remembered why their relationship had been so rocky. He was equal parts charming and caddish. He said one thing and did another. He exuded qualities reminiscent of me-Tarzan, you-Jane.

/I'm not your Jane./ she thought.

The music had slowed and he had pulled her into him presumptively. For the moment she decided to overlook it. She had always liked his tall solid form. Now that he was a few years older, he seemed to be a little less svelte but still incredibly solid. She enjoyed being wrapped in a pair of well-muscled arms very much. She closed her eyes and tilted her head in towards his chest.

For a moment she let the music carry her away. She felt his lips brush hers and she responded in kind. His kiss was gentle at first. Unusually gentle for what she remembered of Andy Ekerson. A stream of short and sweet kisses continued until she was breathless.

"Let's get out of here, Olivia." Andy breathed, close to her neck. She nodded and he began to lead them back to their table to collect their things and pay up.

A few moments later he pushed the big door open in front of her and together they went out in to the night.

His arm slid around her waist and he pulled her close. People stood in the entryway of the restaurant and on the curb, waiting for cabs. Aware of their surroundings, Andy leaned in close.

"I want you, Olivia." he growled in her ear, sending a chill up her spine.

"Just dinner, Andy." she said softly. "That was what this was."

He looked unhappy. He also looked determined. She began to realize what a mistake this was. Her apartment was four blocks away and they began to walk in that general direction.

"It's you lucky night, Olivia Benson." he said. She noticed that annoying cockiness had returned to his voice.

She laughed. "Why is that?"

He laced his fingers thru hers and raised their intertwined hand to his mouth. He began slowly kissing her fingers, slightly nipping at her palm with his teeth.

"Because I have just enough time before my plane leaves to have you for dinner." he said, eyeing her lustily, between kissing her fingers.

She recognized his tone. The over-confident, presumptive jack-ass. She wasn't exactly what it was that made her recoil but suddenly she felt very much like loosing her dinner.

She smiled and separated her fingers from his mouth. "I don't think so, Andy." she said.

He stepped in front of her, blocking her path. His eyes dropped from hers and raked a trail down her body. "I see some things never change." he said with a leer. His hand reached for the top button of her shirt. "Your mouth is saying no but your body is begging for me."

Then briskly, without respect or permission, he palmed her breast, grazing his thumb across her nipple.

"Face it, Olivia." he said with a smirk. "You'll never be able to turn me down. You like to be fucked too much."

She glared at him. "You're right, Andy. Some things never change. You'll always be a presumptive cocky ass-hole who hasn't a clue how to treat a woman."

Briskly she stepped out of his grasp and began walking towards her home.

Just as the little hairs on the back of her neck stood up, she felt his hand wrap around her upper arm too tightly. He spun her around and his mouth crashed into hers roughly. When she tried to pull back, his free hand held her head firmly in place. His tongue ravaged her mouth irreverently. She fought him.

When he finally stopped kissing her, she realized he'd dragged her off the sidewalk and backed her up, pressing her against the side of a building. She could feel the roughness of bricks on her back, even through her jacket.

He pressed his knee between her thighs. In the darkness she could no longer see his eyes but she knew the feelings he was creating in her. There had been a time in their relationship when they had explored dark sensuality together. But this was different. She wasn't agreeing to this.

"Andy. Stop. Now." she said firmly. "I don't want to do this."

Ignoring her words, he was busying himself with the remaining buttons on her shirt. After the last button, he pressed his hands to her exposed breasts and pinched her nipples again. He smiled just before he brushed his teeth against her hardened nipples. He took bites of her a little too hard.

She was getting angry. She placed her hands on his broad shoulders and pushed him away.

"Get off me" she said harshly.

He shoved her back against the wall. "Did you just say 'Get me off'? I'll get you off, baby. I bet you are so wet and tight, I could get you off right here."

Disgust rose up in her throat. She lunged at him, throwing her weight against him. She broke free and as she pushed past him she said "Good night Marshall Ass-hole."

She straightened her clothing and her jacket. Sliding her hand into her jacket, she wrapped her fingers securely around the service weapon pressed against her ribs. If he touched her again, she would draw on him.

She heard him follow her as she kept walking. "Back off now" she ordered over her shoulder.

"Olivia" he said raggedly. She did not stop or turn to look at him.

"Damn it, Olivia."

She kept walking.

Half a block from her house she noticed that his footsteps were no longer close enough to hear. When she came to the stairs to her door, she glanced around behind her. Seeing no one, she unlocked the door and went inside, locking the door behind her.

Inside, she removed her jacket and the leather-holstered service weapon from her shoulder and laid them as she always did, across her entryway table. She stepped out of her shoes and left them nearby.

Her heart was finally returning to a normal rhythm. She wasn't feeling exactly calm. He had unnerved her. She hated him for that. He had taken what they used to be, years ago, and projected it onto her now. He had assumed everything wrong. She hated him for destroying anything good they had ever shared.

He was right. There was a time when she could not deny him. Anything he wanted, she gave him. She had craved his body like a drug. They had done things she'd never done before or since. But that was so long ago. Before SVU.

Almost an hour later, after a quick shower and a slice of leftover pizza, she curled up on the sofa with a book. There would be no deep sleep tonight. There was just too much going on in her brain.

She just nodded off while reading but bolted awake when a chill shot down her spine. There was a noise rattling against her door. Her heart pounded. Looking around, she realized that her power was apparently off. Adrenalin coursed thru her. She took four steps to the entry table and reached for her gun.

Slowly, in the dark, she crept towards the door. She peeked out and found nothing. She saw the rain just as a loud clap of thunder made her jump.

After a few moments with no other sounds, she calmed a bit and reached for the phone. With speed dial, it was just a few seconds before she heard the sleep-thick voice of her partner say "Hello".

"Elliott." she said almost shyly.

"Hi Liv." he said, instantly awake.

"Elliott, can I, um…"

"What wrong, Liv?" he demanded. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine but uh, my power is out and it's creeping me out. Can I come crash on your sofa?" she asked.

He paused for a moment.

"Uh, yeah." He cleared his throat. "It's almost 2 am, Liv. Why don't I grab a flashlight and come crash on your sofa?" he asked, redirecting the plan.

Suddenly it struck her that perhaps he wasn't alone. He was divorced finally and she had known the time would come that he'd date again.

"El, I'm sorry for calling so late. If you have company, I'll be fine. I didn't mean to intru---"

"I don't have company. It's just me." he cut her off. "Besides, I'm really not that kinda guy, ya know." She could hear the smirk on his face.

"Shut up, Stabler." she said.

"You are never an intrusion, ya know."

"Okay."

He took a deep breath and all was quiet on the line.

"Liv?"

"Yeah."

"I feel better about me coming to you at this hour than you coming here. I'll see you in a few, ok?"

"OK."

"You want me to use my key?"

"Yeah, that'll be fine."

"Don't shoot me, ok?"

She laughed a little and hearing her laugh made him smile.

"Be there in a few."

"Thanks, Elliot."

The conversation ended and she found it odd that her heart rate was bumped up again.

She made her way to her bedroom and crawled into the bed. Elliott would be here soon and she wouldn't be alone in the dark anymore.

The storm raged on outside her window, tree limbs brushing against the side of the house. She drew the covers up around her body and snuggled into the warmth of her bed.

Fifteen minutes or so later, she jerked awake when she heard a key in the door. It opened and closed and she heard the locks being re-engaged. A minute later she saw his form standing in the bedroom doorway. She inhaled sharply and her heart pounded.

"No need to be afraid of the dark anymore, sweet thing." he said from the door way. "I'm here."

She snorted laughter at his cheesy-ness. "Sweet thing, my ass." she said with mock displeasure.

A few years back he'd taken to calling her "sweet thing" once in a while when someone indicated that they were acting like an old married couple or when he was pretending to kiss up to her for something. It was a term of endearment that she vocally claimed to hate but they both knew that she secretly liked it.

A bolt of lightening zigzagged across the night sky and illuminated her bedroom. He caught a glimpse of her, wrapped up in the covers and her gun on her bedside table. The gun got his attention.

"Liv, you get spooked by something serious earlier?" he asked calmly.

It was dark again.

"No why?" she asked.

"Your gun's out and the safety is off."

"Oh yeah." She reached for the gun and engaged the safety before setting it back in the drawer of her bedside table.

When she nestled back in the middle of the bed, she found it occupied by her partner. Without a word, she nestled next to him and he wrapped them both up in the covers of the bed.

Strong arms wrapped around her. His gentle hands found safe homes, one on her arm and one on her shoulder. Just protecting, always soothing, and never intruding.

She closed her eyes and inhaled. Slowly she exhaled.

"Wanna tell me what happened?" he asked softly, his mouth so close to her neck that she could feel his breath.

"I did a stupid thing." she said finally. He waited in silence.

"I agreed to get dinner with Andy after work." She felt him tense but continued. "I don't know what made me think maybe he was different now…but anyway, he's not. He's still an ass."

"Was he inappropriate?"

She snorted again sarcastically. "He's always been inappropriate with me, El. Our whole relationship was about bending the rules and stepping toes over the boundaries."

"But that was several years ago."

"Yeah, well, apparently he thought I still liked things that way. What was supposed to be 'just dinner' turned into him pressing me up next to a building down the street with his knee between my thighs, almost forcing me to draw on him."

He hugged her closer. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." she said softly. "I am now."

Elliott Stabler loved that she confided in him. He loved that when she needed to feel safe again, he was the one she wrapped up with. He loved that she trusted him with her secrets. He loved that the ass-hole was gone back to his cave and that Olivia had put him in his place.

"This job has changed me, I guess." she said thoughtfully. "When Andy and I were together I craved kinky aggressive sex with him. I liked it when he…"

He cut her off. "You've seen things go wrong. You're right. This job does change us." His arms tightened around her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say too much." she said, realizing he was uncomfortable.

"Liv," he paused a moment, trying to find the right words. "When I need new material for my fantasies about you, I'll let you know."

She could feel him smile in the dark. His fingers absently rubbed circles on her upper arm.

"You have fantasies about me?" she asked.

"Oh baby. You are the stuff dreams are made of."

They were quiet for a few minutes. She listened to the storm and his heart.

"I thought about you." she finally confessed.

"When?"

"When he …he has really big hands like yours and when he palmed my breasts I was thinking about your hands touching me that way."

"Liv…" he breathed out raggedly. He shifted his body, still holding her close but giving himself some distance.

He buried his face in her neck, inhaling hair and warmth. She could feel the rapidness of his breathing against her. They were quite again for a long time.

When he finally spoke again, he wasn't even sure she was still awake. "Liv, my hands would never hurt you."

"I know".

With the practiced precision of a lover, Elliott Stabler's gentle hands slipped from their comforting positions and very slowly unbuttoned her nightshirt. It slipped from her shoulders. At just the right moment, another lightening bolt split the sky and her room was bright for a moment.

It was light just long enough for her to see the desire raging in his blue eyes and just long enough for her to watch as his fingers grazed against her nipples, igniting a passionate desire deep within them both.

He bent and began to kiss her neck, leaving trails of fire in the wake of his lips.


End file.
